Big Spring European Trip: Paris

Hitchhiking in France was bearable. Nothing special and definetely nothing from this amazing feeling I had before, freedom and joy of travelling for free and meeting people on the way.
Yes, there were people and they gave us a ride, but it was cold, wet, difficult, slow and frustrating.
Nevertheless we got to Paris one evening, tired, dusty and having no place to sleep.
But it was worth it.

Paris I knew only from 19th century books, and from what I've heard from friends it's supposed to be totally overrated, loud, unfriendly and ugly.

We spend five days there, walking and biking it through.
Sure, it is loud and busy to pure madness level I cannot compare with any other city.
It's full of extreme unfriendly, hostile people and weird municipal rules. And damned expensive!

But it's full of this special kind of magic you find in old, big cities, which remember other centuries. As if the streets and walls soaked up with all the stories, emotions, sorrows and joys of many human beings, who lived, loved, created and died there over so many years.

A city so full of substance that it's like a separate world, one have to get to know from the beginning.
And absolutely charming. Not the whole city is beautiful, that's sure but there are not just pretty streets, there are whole beautiful districts, compounding in a huge, overwhelming, breath-taking picture.

People who lived there say though, that it's just a mirage, impression, a romance that turns cold, soon after you fall in love. That one can't live and be happy there.

Don't get fooled by pretty parks, flowers and trees, theaters and galleries.

Well, I enjoyed it a lot. Enjoyed our fresh relation, that was growing beautiful and fascinating under the spring trees.

If you fall in love, go to Paris.

Hitch-hiking to Germany was a nightmare. I truly gave up all the hope and sympathy for this way of transportation. Maybe I grew old, maybe people grew selfish, but it just does not work as it was before. I was making jokes that one day, in many years I will tell children, how once it was possible to catch a ride with a stranger and get wherever you wanted, totally for free. They will surely not believe me.

On our way back we visited friends in Cologne, had a lovely few days enjoying first days of a real Spring and preparing to a real, hard life back in Hamburg. We stayed together and came back so much stronger.

Maybe there is no such thing as bad luck at all?